Mr. Robot - eps.1.2_d3bug.mkv - Episode 3 - IT Nut Blog Review

Mr. Robot - Episode 3

In this episode, they are developing the character of Mr. Wellick - one of the Evil Corp executives. He's a bit of an enigma, but in a slightly annoying, rather than mysterious way. He seems to have lots of pent up frustrations that he takes out on himself and homeless people; and there's some ambiguity about his sexual persuasion. Too many layers that are, again, not convincingly introduced, but they do give the storyline some scope.

Elliot is out of hospital now. He rejects another request from Mr. Robot to give him access to Allsafe, and now he's hoping to lead a 'normal' life. Again, not particularly convincing, because it implies that he's just been playing a part so far as opposed to having any deeply held beliefs. I mean, he gets a caramel latte from Starbucks, which is surely the epitome of everything that he despises about capitalism. And instagram... Really?

Elliot's childhood friend, Angela, is also his colleague at Allsafe. She got him the job there. In the last episode, Angela's boyfriend, Ollie - who is also their colleague - stupidly accepts a CD from some random rapper guy in the street and puts it in his laptop! He works in a cyber security firm for goodness sake! And he commits the cardinal sin of unprotected techs! His computer is hacked, they get a good look at everything and they blackmail him.

It's not clear who 'they' are at this point, but they want Ollie to put the CD into a computer at Allsafe so they can hack the system. Surely any cyber security firm worth its salt would have either removed and or disabled any usb ports and CD drives in any of the computers that have access to the servers. Allsafe and E Corp are under attack from all directions it seems.

Darlene is an interesting character. She's one of the hackers from fsociety, and she's probably the most convincing character in the show so far. The other hackers are mostly like shadows in the background, so there's lots of room for them to develop and thicken the plot.

Towards the end of this episode, Elliot is at another crossroad when a story appears in the news which relates to E Corp's role in Elliot's father's death. What will Elliot do now?

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Mr. Robot - IT Nut Blog Review - Episode 1 (eps1.0_hellofriend.mov)

Mr. Robot - Episode 1

I must admit that I was intrigued when I saw the trailer for the imaginatively named 'Mr. Robot' ('A.I.' and 'i, Robot' were already taken). Episode one starts off with the 'mysterious black screen and narrator's voice sequence, which sets the scene. The premise is that there are a bunch of wealthy bespectacled white males that run the world (or America - same difference). Nothing new there.

For those of you who haven't heard about this series, it's about Elliot Alderson. He's a sociopathic hacker who works for 'Allsafe Cyber Security', which has clients like 'E Corp' - that Elliot affectionately calls 'Evil Corp' (it bears a strong resemblance to one of the large corporations of the day) - and he's some sort of do-gooder vigilante by night. He has a pet goldfish called Qwerty (classic!).

I'll try not to include any spoilers, but we're given a preview into Elliot's expertise when he hacks into the servers of a coffee shop chain, just because it has the fastest wifi in town and that arouses his suspicions. Nothing is ever good for no reason. He discovers that the owner is running a child porn ring and dobs him into the police. He's not doing it for the money, so he's a one of the good guys. Clear cut case, or is it? The grey area is that he does morphine, but he controls his addiction, it doesn't control him.

When 'E Corp' is hit by a cyber attack, Elliot saves the day, but Mr. Robot leaves him a message in the code. That is when it starts to get interesting!

In short, the show is about a young man who is disenfranchised by capitalism and large corporations, and he's groomed by idealists that want to change the world. See the show if you want to know what else happens in episode 1!


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